A few days later, our reinforcements arrived on Zip. Bubbles and I had stayed low and allowed ourselves some time to lick our wounds while we waited for Keshi, Sil, and Needle to show up. Bubbles still had to regenerate his lost flesh, and I needed a few days to rest after my minor concussion. It also allowed time for Bubbles’s new suit to arrive. He had ordered a new one from Yori, and they gave him one of the suits Yori had in reserve. They didn’t have enough time to make a new one from scratch, and Bubbles would fit in any suit anyways.

Keshi’s ship docked at the bay next to mine and Bubbles’s. Their ship was a pretty standard mercenary ship. Heavily combat focused, shaped like a diamond, and sporting several weapons and defenses. It was about twice as large as my stealth ship, but Keshi’s ship wasn’t meant to be discreet anyways. It was to dish out as much firepower in as short a time as possible. It wasn’t like we were going to engage in a dogfight, but it was reassuring to have someone with a powerful ship on my side.

Once Keshi’s ship was safely docked and secured, Bubbles and I walked out to greet the mercenaries. The ship’s ramp lowered, and three familiar figures descended from the underbelly of the ship.

“Hey, are you holding up alright?” Keshi asked. “Sorry it took so long to get here. We were kind of far away.”

I nodded. “I’m fine. And don’t worry about the travel time. It’s better than having nobody.”

“Well, I’m glad I could come over and help. I owe you and Noah a lot.” Keshi said.

Sil nodded. “We’re comrades, after all. If Noah’s in trouble, we’ll come to help.”

Needle finally spoke up. “Hey, Saka. I just want to say I’m sorry. It’s my fault things ended up like this. If I didn’t snatch Noah’s helmet off his head, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

I shook my head. “Don’t apologize to me, apologize to Noah. Make sure to tell him when we rescue him, alright?”

“Right.” Needle sighed.

“Oh, and let me introduce you to Bubbles.” I said, gesturing towards the lanky mercenary. He waved his hand. “I know that you guys were Maralu mercenaries too, so you must’ve heard of him, right?”

Keshi nodded. “Yeah, Bubbles was pretty well known in Maralu. I don’t think I haven’t talked to him, but I know of him. Nice to meet you, Bubbles.”

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Sil, Needle, and Bubbles also exchanged their greetings.

“I’m wondering why Bubbles is helping us out, though.” Sil said. “He didn’t know about Noah until the videos, right?”

“No, I didn’t.” Bubbles said. “But after the videos surfaced, I was concerned for him. We met in Maralu, and I liked Noah. I couldn’t sit still if something bad happened to him. On top of that, our interests aligned.”

“Interests aligned?” Sil asked.

“Yes. The person who put the bounty on Noah is someone I’d like to meet again. If I worked with Noah, I could find her again, and get my revenge.” Bubbles explained.

“I see.” Keshi replied. “And I assume we’re going after this bounty setter? If we find her, we find Noah?”

“That’s right.” I confirmed. “Let’s go to my ship. We can talk more about the specifics there.”

We marched over to my cargo hold, which was the only space big enough to comfortably house all five of us. I leaned on a random crate.

“Right, so, Bubbles discerned who set the bounty on Noah. It’s Yaro Rein, the suit. As you probably know she owns several companies and is very very wealthy. According to Bubbles, she has a collection of illegal aliens and sapients, and she wants to add Noah to her collection.”

“Yaro Rein?” Sil said, shocked. “That’s a big name.”

I nodded. “It’s going to be tough to get to her, but that’s the only way to get Noah back. By the time we get to the capital system, Noah would already be delivered to her.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, but who managed to take Noah off of your hands?” Keshi asked. “There’s not a lot of people who can manage to corner you, Noah, and Bubbles.”

I sighed. “It was my father. Ocke. He surrounded us with his crew and forced Noah to turn himself in.”

“Ocke?” Needle snapped his head up. “It’s not that Ocke, right? The infamous Togumo mercenary? He’s your dad?”

I flinched slightly. “Yeah. He’s a massive dickhead.”

Sil rubbed her chin. “Are we going to have to deal with him, too?”

Bubbles spoke up. “Probably not. Once he drops off Noah, he’ll probably go elsewhere to pick up a new job. I don’t think we’ll see him.”

Keshi sighed in relief. “Yaro is one thing, but Ocke is different altogether. Dealing with both would be trouble.”

“Agreed.” Bubbles said. “Yaro is tough, but she’s grown complacent after years of wealth and leisure. Once we break through her security, we can fuck up her entire place.”

“Do we have a plan?” Sil asked. “If we don’t have a fully drawn out plan, I can think of one. You just need to feed me information, though.”

“We have a baseline, but something more detailed could help.” I admitted. “Bubbles, can you help her? You have insider knowledge, and you’ve got the tracker on Noah. You two would be our best bet.”

“Sure.” Bubbles replied. “I can help with things like security layouts and entry points, if Yaro hasn’t done any renovations over the years. As for Noah’s exact location, we’ll have to figure that out once he actually gets there.”

Bubbles and Sil huddled over a crate and started drafting up a plan on their tablets. I looked over at Keshi and Needle.

“Do we need to stock up on some firepower?” I asked. “Do you need any grenades, Needle?”

Needle managed a weak grin. “I’m completely out of grenades. It’d be nice if we can get some.”

Keshi spoke up. “I’m pretty familiar with Zip. I know a spot that sells good weapons, ammunition, and explosives. Let’s go make the rounds, shall we? Saka, you want to come with us?”

“Sure. You can never have too many grenades.”